Ep. 5: The Small Swordsman, Blue
is the fifth episode of Hikari Sentai Maskman. Synopsis Akira's teammates become frustrated with his childish behavior, and he tries to prove himself as Skull Doggler and Fumin start swapping people's faces. Plot Earth Emperor Zeba choosest Skull Doggler from the Frozen Empire Cave to be defrosted and sent above, and when Anagmas asks who will lead the mission, Prince Igam steps forward. Meanwhile on the surface, Kenta notices something coming up through a manhole, and calls Akira, who confidently says to leave to to him. However, he drops his apple, and as he chases after it, Skull Doggler emerges and hides. Kenta scolds him for letting something so trivial distract him, and goes to investigate himself. Akira wanders into the city, sulking over Kenta treating him like a kid. At that point, he hears a scream, and runs to help. The upper half of Skull Doggler is harassing civilians. As it jumps from the head of a boy to a girl, its other half appears, and a light flashes from one of its eyes, making the two switch faces. Akira chases the floating skull to its other half, which it rejoins to attack him. Drawing his swords, he deflects the monster's fire breath back at it, but fails to avoid a dagger to the chest from a newly-arrived Fumin. As she laughs, Akira gets up and pulls the blade out, revealing it stuck to an apple inside his coat. The two banter until Fumin calls him "boy," making him mad and prompting him to attack. In spite of his best efforts, he is outmatched, and saying she's wasting her time, Fumin leaves. A battered Akira follows. Underground, Prince Igam is very pleased with the results of the mission so far. The humans are not enjoying their new faces. Zeba orders them to cause more distress, so they'll be able to conquer humanity quickly. Back on base, the rest of the Masks wonder what's happened to Akira. Kenta even says he's unfit to be a warrior, but Commander Sugata stops him. As a flashback demonstrates Akira's skill with swords, Sugata says he traveled all over Japan looking for suitable Maskmen, and even though Akira may act immaturely, he has a lot of potential. He is confident that these five will overcome their differences, and Akira will become a fine warrior. As Sugata finishes speaking, Haruka finally finds Akira--riding the skeletal part of Skull Doggler and thoroughly enjoying himself. The others are not impressed. As Akira begins to lose control, Takeru orders the others out, only to be interrupted by the woman manning the controls. She's picked up a signal controlling Skull Doggler's movements. Sugata orders her to trace it back to its source, which she does--the caterpillar-like half of the monster, only fifty meters away. Akira finally loses his grip just as the rest of his team traps the skull in an energy barrier. He apologizes for making them worry, but they dismiss it, since his actions led them to the creature controlling the skull, just as the monster trundles into the open, smoking from their attacks. However, pink electricity blasts Takeru, destroying the device he was using to control the energy barrier. Igam reveals himself to the group as Fumin arrives. The Masks henshin to fight the gathered foes, including a set of Ungler Soldiers. Skull Doggler blasts the group, but Kenta realizes that they need to aim for his eyes, and tells Akira to do it, handing over his sword so Blue Mask has two. He takes out the monster's "antenna," making it lose control of the skull. Igam and Fumin are none too pleased with this, but now Akira easily defeats Fumin. He gleefully announces that next time they meet, she should call him Master Blue Mask. Igam puts Skull Doggler back together to attack the Masks, who promptly blow it up with the Shot Bomber. Energy Beast Okelampa revives the monster at giant size, complaining about how tiring it is to do. The team summons Turbo Ranger and form the Great Five. Once again they take out the caterpillar half's eyes before unleashing their final attack. With the destruction of the monster, all of the face-swapped civilians return to normal. As the former victims thank the Masks, Akira shows off his swordsmanship for a group of excited children, peeling two apples perfectly in midair. Cast * : * : * : * : * : * : *Azuma: * : * : * : * , : * : * : Guest Cast * : *High School Student: *Child: *Karate Man: Errors *''to be added'' Notes *After Akira practices his fighting style and before hanging on Skull Doggler's head on air in his primary outfit, he was later seen relaxing in a hot bath on a single drum this implies that he removes his training clothes by jumping higher off-screen as his sword can be seen dropping on the ground. DVD releases Hikari Sentai Maskman Volume 1 features episodes 1-10. http://www.toei-video.co.jp/DVD/sp21/maskman.html References Category:Hikari Sentai Maskman Category:Sentai episodes Category:Written by Hirohisa Soda